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I 

A 



SERMON 



Delivered at the 



OF THE 



REV. JARED SPA^lrS, 



PASTORAL CARE OF THE 
FIRST INDEPENDENT CHURCH IN BALTIMORE, 

MAY 5, 1819. 



BY WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING, 

MINISTER OF TI1E CHURCH OF CHRIST, IN FEDERAL STREET, BOSTON 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST* 



BOSTON j 

BE PRINTED BY HEWS & COS^ 

1819, 



SERMON. 



I THESS. V. 21. 

Prove all things ; hold fast that which is good. 

THE peculiar circumstances of this occasion not only justify, 
but seem to demand a departure from the course generally follow- 
ed by preachers at the introduction of a brother into the sacred 
office. It is usual to speak of the nature, design, duties and ad- 
vantages of the Christian ministry ; and on these topicks I should 
now be happy to insist, did I not remember that a minister is to be 
given this day to a religious society, whose peculiarities of opin- 
ion have drawn upon them much remark, and may I not add, much 
reproach. Many good minds, many sincere Christians, I am 
aware, are apprehensive that the solemnities of this day are to 
give a degree of influence to principles which they deem false and 
injurious. The fears and anxieties of such men I respect ; and, 
believing that they are grounded in part on mistake, I have 
thought it my duty to lay before you as clearly as I can, some of 
the distinguishing opinions of that class of Christians in our coun- 
try, who are known to sympathize with this religious society. I 
must ask your patience, for such a subject is not to be despatched 
in a narrow compass. I must also ask you to remember, that it 19 
impossible to exhibit in a single discourse, our view of every doc- 
trine of revelation, much less the differences of opinion which are 
known to subsist among ourselves. I shall confine myself to top- 
icks on which our sentiments have been misrepresented, or which 
distinguish us most widely from others. May I not hope to be 
heard with candor. God deliver us all from prejudice, and un- 
kindness, and fill us with the love of truth and virtue. 

There are two natural divisions under w 7 hich my thoughts will 
be arranged. I shall endeavour to unfold, 1st, the principles 
which we adopt in interpreting the Scriptures. And 2dly, some 
of the doctrines which the Scriptures, so interpreted, seem to us 
clearly to express. 

I. We regard the Scriptures as the record of God's successive 
revelation to mankind, and particularly of the last and most per- 
fect revelation of his will by Jesus Christ. W hatever doctrines 
seem to us to be clearly taught in the Scriptures, we receive with- 
out reserve or exception. We do not, however, attach equal 
importance to all the books in this collection. Our religion, we 
believe, lies chiefly in the New Testament. The dispensation of 
Moses, compared with that of Jesus, we consider as imperfect, 
earthly, obscure, adapted to the childhood of the human race, a 
preparation for a nobler system, and chiefly useful now as serving 
to confirm and illustrate the Christian Scriptures. Jesus Christ is 



4 



the only master of Christians, and whatever he taught, either du- 
ring his personal ministry, or by his inspired apostles, we regard 
as of divine authority, and profess to make the rule of our lives. 

This authority, which we give to the Scriptures, is a reason, we 
conceive, for studying them with peculiar care, and for inquiring 
anxiously into the principles of interpretation, by which their 
true meaning may be ascertained. The principles adopted by the 
class of Christians, in whose name I speak, need to be explained, 
because they are often misunderstood. We are particularly ac- 
cused of making an unwarrantable use of reason in the interpreta- 
tion of Scripture. We are said to exalt reason above revelation, 
to prefer our own wisdom to God's. Loose and undefined charges 
of this kind, are circulated so freely, and with such injurious in- 
tentions, that we think it due to ourselves, and to the cause of 
truth, to express our views with some particularity. 

Our leading principle in interpreting Scripture is this, that the 
Bible is a book written for men, in the language of men, and that 
its meaning is to be sought in the same manner, as that of other 
books. We believe that God, when he condescends to speak and 
write, submits, if we may so say, to the established rules of speak- 
ing and writing. How else would the Scriptures avail us more 
than if communicated in an unknown tongue. 

Now all books, and all conversation, require in the reader or 
hearer the constant exercise of reason ; or their true import is on- 
ly to be obtained by continual comparison and inference. Human 
language, you well know, admits various interpretations, and eve- 
ry word and every sentence must be modified and explained 
according to the subject which is discussed, according to the purpo- 
ses, feelings, circumstances and principles of the writer, and accor- 
ding to the genius and idioms of the language which he uses. — 
These are acknowledged principles in the interpretation of human 
writings ; and a man, whose words we should explain without ref- 
erence to these principles, would reproach us justly with a crim- 
inal want of candour, and an intention of obscuring or distorting 
his meaning. 

Were the Bible written in' a language and style of its own, did it 
consist of words, which admit but a single sense, and of sentences 
wholly detached from each other, there would be no place for the 
principles now laid down. We could not reason about it, as about 
other writings. But such a book would be of little worth ; and 
perhaps, of all books, the Scriptures correspond least to this des- 
cription. The word of God bears the stamp of the same hand, 
which we see in his works. It has infinite connexions and depen- 
dencies. Every proposition is linked with others, and is to be 
compared with others, that its full and precise import may be un- 
derstood. Nothing stands alone. The New Testament is built 
on the Old. The Christian dispensation is a continuation of the 
Jewish, the completion of a vast scheme of providence, requiring 
great extent of view in the reader, Still more, the Bible treats of 
subjects on which we receive ideas from other sources hesides it- 
self 5 such subjects as the nature, passions, relations, and duties of 



5 



man ; and it expects us to restrain and modify its language by the 
known truths which observation and experience burnish on these 
topicks. 

We profess not to know a book, which demands a more frequent 
exercise of reason than the Bible. In addition to the remarks now 
made on its infinite connexions, wa may observe, that its style no 
where affects the precision of science, or the accuracy of defini- 
tion. Its language is singularly glowing, bold and figurative, de- 
mandingmore frequent departures from the literal sense, than that 
of our own age and country, and consequently demands more con- 
tinual exercise of judgment. We find too, that the different por- 
tions of this book, instead of being confined to general truths, 
refer perpetually to the times when they were written, to states 
of society, to modes of thinking, to controversies in the church, 
to feelings and usages which have passed away, and without the 
knowledge of which we are constantly in danger of extending to 
all times, and places, what was of temporary and local application. 
We find, too, that some of these books are strongly marked by 
the genius and character of their respective writers, that the Ho- 
ly Spirit did not so guide the apostles as to suspend the peculiari- 
ties of their minds, and that a knowledge of their feelings, and of 
the influences under which they were piaced, is one of trie prep- 
arations for understanding their writings. With these views of 
the Bible, we feel it our bounden duty to exercise our reason 
upon it perpetually, to compare, to infer, to look beyond the let- 
ter to the spirit, to seek in the nature oi the subject, aud the aim 
of the writer, his true meaning ; and, in general, to make use of 
what is known, for explaining what is difficult, and for discovering 
new truths. 

.Need 1 descend to particulars to prove that the Scriptures de- 
mand the exercise of reason. Take, for example, the style in 
which they generally speak of God, and observe how habitually 
they apply to him human passions and organs. Recollect the 
declarations of Christ, that he came not to send peace, but a 
sword ; that unless we eat his ilesh, and drink his blood, we have 
no life in us ; that we must hate father and mother, pluck out the 
right eye ; and a vast number of passages equaiiy boid and un- 
limited. Recollect the unqualified manner in which it is said of 
Christians, that they ^fcsess all things, know all things, and can 
do all things. Recoii^B'the verbai contradiction between Paul 
and James, and the a|(flFent clashing of some parts of Paul's wri- 
ting, with the general doctrines and end of Christianity. I might 
extend the enumeration indefinitely, and who does not see, that 
we must limit ail these passages by the known attributes of God, 
of Jesus Christ, and of human nature, and by the circumstances 
under which they were written, so as to give the language a quite 
different import from what it would require, had it been applied to 
different beings, or used in different connexions. 

Enough has been said to show in what sense we make use of 
reason in interpreting Scripture. From a variety of possible in- 
terpretations, we select that which accords with the nature of the 



subject, and the state of the writer, with the connexion of the 
passage, with the general strain of Scripture, with the known 
character and will of God, and with the obvious and acknowledg- 
ed laws of nature. In other words, we believe that God never 
contradicts, in one part of Scripture, what he teaches in another ; 
and never contradicts, in revelation, what he teaches in hi6 
works and providence. And we, therefore, distrust every inter- 
pretation, which, after deliberate attention, seems repugnant to 
any established truth. We reason about the Bible precisely as 
civilians do about the constitution under which we live ; who, 
you know, are accustomed to limit one provision of that venera- 
ble instrument by others, and to fix the precise import of its parts 
by inquiring into its general spirit, into the intentions of its au- 
thors, and into the prevalent feelings, impressions, and circum- 
stances of the time when it was framed. Without these princi- 
ples of interpretation, we frankly acknowledge, that we cannot 
defend the divine authority of the Scriptures. Deny us this lati- 
tude, and we must abandon this book to its enemies, 

We do not announce these principles as original, or peculiar 
to ourselves ; all Christians occasionally adopt them, not except- 
ing those, who most vehemently decry them, when they happen 
to menace some favourite article of their creed. All Christians 
are compelled to use them in their controversies with infidels. 
All sects employ them in their warfare with one another. All 
willingly avail themselves of reason, when it can be pressed into 
the service of their own party, and only complain of it, when its 
weapons wound themselves. None reason more frequently than 
our adversaries. It is astonishing what a fabrick they rear trom a 
few slight hints about the fall of our first parents ; and how ingen- 
iously they extract from detached passages, mysterious doctrines 
about the divine nature. We do not blame them for reasoning so 
abundantly, but for violating the fundamental rules of reasoning, 
for sacrificing the plain to the obscure, and the general strain of 
Scripture, to a scanty number of insulated texts. 

We object strongly to the contemptuous manner in which 
human reason is often spoken of by our adversaries, because it 
leads, we believe, to universal scepticism. If reason be so dread- 
fully darkened by the fall, that its most decisive judgments on 
religion are unworthy of trust, then Ckjirtianity, and even natu- 
ral theology, must be abandoned ; for tMpexistence and veracity 
of God, and the divine original of Christianity, are conclusions 
of reason, and must stand or fall with it. If revelation be at war 
with this faculty, it subverts itself, for the great question of its 
truth is left by God to be decided at the bar oi reason. It is wor- 
thy of remark, how nearly the bigot and the sceptick approach. 
Both would annihilate our confidence in our faculties, and both 
throw doubt and confusion over every truth. VV e honour reve- 
lation too highly to make it the antagonist of reason, or to believe 
that it calls us to renounce our highest powers. 

We indeed grant, that the use of reason in religion, is accom- 
panied with danger. But we ask any honest man to lookback on. 



7 



the history of the church, and say, whether the renunciation of it 
be not still more dangerous. Besides, it is a plain fact, that men 
reason as erroneously on all subjects as on religion. Who does 
not know the wild and groundless theories, which have been fram- 
ed in physical and political science ? But who ever supposed, 
that we must cease to exercise reason on nature and society, be- 
cause men have erred for ages in explaining them ? We grant, 
that the passions continually, and sometimes fatally, disturb the 
rational faculty in its inquiries into revelation. The ambitious 
contrive to find doctrines in the Bible, which favour their love of 
dominion. The timid and dejected discover there a gloomy sys- 
tem, and the mystical and fanatical, a visionary theology. The 
vicious can find examples or assertions on which to build the hope 
of a late repentance, or of acceptance on easy terms ; the falsely 
refined contrive to light on doctrines which have not been soiled 
by vulgar handling. But the passions do not distract the reason 
in religious, any more than in other inquiries, which excite strong 
and general interest ; and this faculty, of consequence, is not to 
be renounced in religion, unless we are prepared to discard it uni- 
versally. The true inference from the almost endless errours, 
which have darkened theology, is not that we are to neglect and 
disparage our powers, but to exert them more patiently, circum- 
spectly, uprightly. The worst errours, after all, have sprung up 
in that church, which proscribes reason, and demands from its 
members implicit faith. The most pernicious doctrines have been 
the growth of the darkest times, when the general credulity 
encouraged bad men and enthusiasts to broach their dreams and 
inventions, and to stifle the faint remonstrances of reason, by the 
menaces of everlasting perdition. Say what we may, God has 
given us a rational nature, and will call us to account for it. We 
may let it sleep, but we do so at our peril. Revelation is addres- 
sed to us as rational beings. We may wish, in our sloth, that God 
had given us a system, demanding no labour of comparing, limit- 
ing and inferring. But such a system would be at variance with 
the whole character of a present existence ; and it is the part of 
wisdom to take revelation, as it is given to us, and to interpret ithy 
the help of the faculties, which it every where supposes, and on 
which it is founded. 

To the views now given, an objection is commonly urged from 
the character of God. IvVe are told, that God being infinitely 
wiser than men, his discoveries will surpass human reason. In a 
revelation from such a teacher, we ought to expect propositions, 
which we cannot reconcile with one another, and which may seem 
to contradict established truths ; and it becomes us not to question 
or explain them away, but to believe, and adore, and to submit 
our weak and carnal reason, to the divine word. To this objec- 
tion, we have two short answers. We say, first, that it is impos- 
sible, that a teacher of infinite wisdom, should expose those, 
whom he would teach, to infinite errour. But if once we admit, 
that propositions, which in their literal sense appear plainly re- 
pugnant to one aaother, or to any known truth, are still to be lit- 



8 



erally understood and received, wha* possible limit can we set to 
the belief of contradictions ? What shelter have we from the 
wildest fanaticism, which can always quote passages, that in their 
literal and obvious sense, give support to its extravagancies ? How 
can the Protestant escape from transubstantialion, a doctrine most 
clearly taught us, if the submission of reason, now contended for, 
be a duty ? How can we ever hold fast the truth of revelation, 
for if one apparent contradiction may be true, so may another, and 
the proposition, that Christianity is false, though involving incon- 
sistency, may still be a verity. 

We answer again, that, if God be infinitely wise, he cannot 
sport with the understandings of his creatures. A wise teacher 
discovers his wisdom in adapting himself to the capacities of his 
pupils, not in perplexing thern with what is unintelligible, not in 
distressing them with apparent contradiction, not in filling them 
with a sceptical distrust of their powers. An infinitely wise teach- 
er, who knows the precise extent of our minds, and the best 
method of enlightening them, will surpass all other instructors in 
bringing down truth to our apprehension, and in showing its love- 
liness and harmony. We ought, indeed, to expect occasional 
obscurity in such a book as the Bible, which was written for past 
and future ages, as well as for the present. But God's wisdom is 
a pledge, that whatever is necessary for ws, and necessary for sal- 
vation, is revealed too plainly to be mistaken, and too consistently 
to be questioned by a sound and upright mind. It is not the mark 
of wisdom, to use an unintellible phraseology, to communicate 
what is above our capacities, to confuse and unsettle the intellect, 
by appearances of contradiction, We honour our heavenly 
Teacher too much to ascribe to him such a revelation. A reve- 
lation is a gift of light, it cannot thicken and multiply our per- 
plexities. 

II. Having thus stated the principles according to which we in- 
terpret Scriptures, I now proceed to the second great head of this 
discourse, which is, to state some of the views, which we derive 
from that sacred book, particularly those which distinguish us 
from other Christians. 

First. We believe in the doctrine of god's unity, or that there 
is one God, and one only. To this truth we give infinite import- 
ance, and we feel ourselves bound to ta|J^heed, lest any man spoil 
us of it by vain philosophy. The proposition, that there is one 
God, seems to us exceedingly plain. We understand by it, that 
there is one being, one mind, one person, one intelligent agent, 
and one only, to whom underived and infinite perfection and 
dominion belong. We conceive, that these words could have con- 
veyed no other meaning to the simple and uncultivated people, 
who were set apart to be the depositaries of this great truth, and 
who were utterly incapable of understanding those hair breadth 
distinction* between being and person, which the sagacity of latter 
ages has discovered. We find no intimation, that this language 
was to be taken in an unusual sense, or that God's unity was a 
quite different thing from the oneness of other intelligent beings.. 



9 

We object to the doctrine of the Trinity, that it subverts the 
unity of God. According 1 to this doctrine, there are three infi- 
ite and equal persons, possessing supreme divinity, called the Fa- 
ther, Son, and Holy Ghost. Each of these persons, as described 
by theologians, has his own particular consciousness, will, and per- 
ceptions. They love each other, converse with each other, and 
delight in each other's society. They perform different parts in 
man's redemption, each having his appropriate office, and neither 
doing the work of the other. The Son is mediator, and not the 
Father. The Father sends the Son, and is not himself sent ; nor 
is he conscious, like the Son, of taking flesh. Here then, we have 
three intelligent agents, possessed of different consciousnesses, 
different wills, and different perceptions, performing different acts, 
and sustaining different relations ; and if these things do not im- 
ply and constitute three minds or beings, we are utterly at a loss 
to know how three minds or beings are to be formed. It is differ- 
ence of properties, and acts, and consciousness, which leads us to 
the belief of different intelligent beings, and if this mark fail us, 
our whole knowledge falls ; we have no proof, that all the agents 
and persons in the universe are not one and the same mind. When 
we attempt to conceive of three Gods, we can do nothing more, 
than represent to ourselves three agents, distinguished from each, 
other by similar marks and peculiarities to those, which separate 
the persons of the Trinity ; and when common Christians hear 
these persons spoken of as conversing with each other, loving 
each other, and performing different acts, how can they help re- 
garding them as different beings, different minds 1 

We do then, with all earnestness, though without reproaching 
our brethren, protest against the unnatural and unscriptural doc- 
trine of the Trinity. 44 To us," as to the apostle and the primitive 
Christians, 44 there is one God, even the Father." With Jesus, 
we worship the Father, as the only living and true God.* We are 
astonished, that any man can read the New Testament, and avoid 
the conviction, that the Father alone is God. We hear our Sa- 
viour continually appropriating this character to the Father. We 
rind the Father continually distinguished from Jesus by this title. 
44 God sent his Son." 44 God anointed Jesus." Now, how singu- 
lar and inexplicable is this phraseology, which fills the New Tes- 
tament, if this title belong equally to Jesus, and if a principal 
object of this book is v to reveal him as God, as partaking equally 
with the Father in supreme divinity. We challenge our oppo- 
nents to adduce one passage in the New Testament, where the 
word God means three persons, where it is not limited to one per- 
son, and where, unless turned from its usual sense by the connex- 
ion, it does not mean the Father. Can stronger proof be given, 
that the doctrine of three persons in the Godhead, is not a funda- 
mental doctrine of Christianity 1 

This doctrine, were it true, must, from its difficulty, singularity, 
and importance, have been laid down with great clearness, guard- 



John. !7, 



10 



ed with great care, and stated with all possible precision. But 
where does this statement appear ? From the many passages, 
which treat of God, we ask for one, one only, in which we are 
told, that hi is a threefold being, or, that he is three persons, or, 
that he is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. On the contrary in the 
New Testament, where, at least, we might expect many express 
assertions of this nature, God is declared to be one, without the 
least attempt to prevent the acceptation of the words in their 
common sense ; and he is always spoken of and addressed in the 
singular number, that is, in language which was universally under- 
stood to intend a single person, and to which no other idea could 
have been attached, without an express admonition. So entirely 
do the Scriptures abstain from stating the Trinity, that when our 
opponents would insert it into their creeds and doxologies, they 
are compelled to leave the Bible, and to invent forms of words al- 
together unsanctioned by scriptural phraseology. That a doctrine 
so strange, so liable to misapprehension, so fundamental as this is 
said to be, and requiring such careful exposition, should be left so 
undefined and unprotected, to be made out by inference, and to be 
hunted through distant and detached parts of Scripture, this is a 
difficulty, which, we think, no ingenuity can explain. 

We have another difficulty. Christianity, it must be remem- 
bered, was planted and grew up amidst sharp-sighted enemies, who 
overlooked no objectionable part of the system, and who must 
have fastened with great earnestness on a doctrine involving such 
apparent contradictions as the Trinity. We cannot conceive an 
opinion against which, the Jews, who prided themselves on their 
adherence to God's unity, would have raised an equal clamour. 
Now, how happens it, that in the apostolick writings, which re- 
late so much to objections against Christianity, and to the contro- 
versies, which grew out of this religion, not one word is said, im- 
plying that objections were brought against the gospel from the 
doctrine of the Trinity, not one word is uttered in its defence and 
explanation, not a word to rescue it from reproach and mistake ? 
This argument has almost the force of demonstration. We are 
persuaded, that had three divine persons been announced by the 
first preachers of Christianity, all equal, and all infinite, one of 
whom was the very Jesus, who had lately died on a cross, this pe- 
culiarity of Christianity would have almost absorbed every other, 
and the great labour of the apostles would have been to repel the 
continual assaults, which it would have awakened. But the fact 
is, that not a whisper of objection to Christianity, on that account, 
reaches our ears from the apostolick age. In the epistles we see 
not a trace of controversy called forth by the Trinity. 

We have further objections to this doctrine, drawn from its 
practical influence. W e regard it as unfavourable to devotion, 
by dividing and distracting the mind in its communion with God. 
It is a great excellence of the doctrine of God's unity, that it offers 
to us one object of supreme homage, adoration and love, one infi- 
nit Father, one Being of Beings, one original and fountain, to 
whom we may refer all good, on whom all our powers and affec- 



II 



tions may be concentrated, and whose lovely and venerable nature 
may pervade all our thoughts. True piety, when directed to an 
undivided Deity, has a chasteness, a singleness, most favourable 
to religious awe, and love. Now the Trinity sets before us three 
distinct objects of supreme adoration; three intinite persons, hav- 
ing equal claims on our hearts ; three divine agents, performing 1 
different offices, and to be acknowledged and worshipped in differ- 
ent relations. And is it possible, we ask, that the weak and limit- 
ed mind of man can attach itself to these with the same power 
and joy, as to one infinite Father, the only First Cause, in whom all 
the blessings of nature and redemption meet, as tneir centre and 
source ? Must not devotion be distracted by the equal and rival 
claims of three equal persons, and must not the worship ot the 
conscientious, consistent Christian be disturbed by apprehension, 
lest he withhold from one or another of these, his due proportion 
of homage ? 

We also think, that the doctrine of the Trinity injures devotion, 
not only by joining to the Father other objects of worship, but 
by taking from the Father the supreme affection, which is his due, 
and transferring it to the Son. Tnis is a most important view. 
That Jesus Christ, if exalted into the infinite Divinity, should be 
more interesting than the Father, is precisely what might be ex- 
pected from history, and from the principles of human nature. 
Men want an object of worship like themselves, and the great 
secret of idolatry lies in this propensity. A God, clothed in our 
form, and feeling our wants and sorrows, speaks to our weak na- 
ture more strongly, than a Father in heaven, a pure spirit, invisi- 
ble and unapproachable, save by the reflecting and purified mind. 
We think, too, that the peculiar offices ascribed to Jesus by the 
popular theology, make him the most attractive person in the 
Godhead. The Father is the depositary of the Justice, the vin- 
dicator of the rights, the avenger of the laws of the Divinity. 
On the other hand, the Son, the brightness of the divine mercy, 
stands between the incensed Deity and guilty humanity, exposes 
his meek head to the storms, and his compassionate breast to the 
sword of the divine justice, bears our whole load of punishment, 
and purchases, with his blood, every blessing which descends from 
heaven. Need we state the effect of these representations, espe- 
cially on common minds, for whom Christianity was chiefly design- 
ed, and whom it seeks to bring to the Father, as the loveliest be- 
ing ? We do believe, Miat the worship of a bleeding, suffering 
God, tends strongly to aosorb the mind, and to draw it from other 
objects, just as the human tenderness of the Virgin Mary has giv- 
en her so conspicuous a place in the devotions of the church of 
Rome. We believe, too, that this worship, though attractive, is 
not most fitted to spiritualize the mind, that it awakens human 
transport, rather than that deep veneration of the moral perfec- 
tions of God, which is the essence of piety. 

Secondly. Having thus given our views of the unity of God, I 
proceed to observe, that we believe in the unity of Jesus Christ. 
We believe that Jesus is one mind, one soul, one being, as truly 



12 



one as we arc, and equally distinct from the one God. We com- 
plain of the doctrine of the Trinity, that not satisfied with making 
God three beings, it makes 1 Jesus Christ two beings, and thus in- 
troduces infinite confusion into our conceptions of his character. 
This corruption of Christianity, alike repugnant to common sense, 
and to the general strain of Scripture, is a remarkable proof of 
the power of a false philosophy in disfiguring the simple truth of 
Jesus. 

According to this doctrine, Jesus Christ, instead of being one 
mind, one conscious intelligent principle whom we can understand, 
consists of two souls, two minds, the one divine, the other human; 
the one weak, the other almighty ; the one ignorant, the other 
omniscient. Now we maintain, that this is to make Christ two 
beings. To denominate him one person, one being, and yet to 
suppose him made up of two minds, infinitely different from each 
other, is to abuse and confound language, and to throw darkness 
over all our conceptions of intelligent natures. According to the 
common doctrines, each of these two minds in Christ has its own 
consciousness, its own will, its own perceptions. They have in 
fact no common properties. The divine mind feels none of the 
wants and sorrows of the human, and the human is infinitely re- 
moved from the perfection and happiness of the divine. Can you 
conceive of two beings in the universe more distinct ? We have 
always thought, that one person was constituted and distinguished 
by one consciousness. The doctrine, that one and the same per- 
son should have two consciousnesses, two wills, two souls, infinitely 
different from each other, this we think an enormous tax on human 
credulity. 

W e say, that if a doctrine, so strange, so difficult, so remote 
from all the previous conceptions of men, be indeed a part, and 
an essential part of revelation, if must be taught with great dis- 
tinctness, and we ask our brethren to point to some plam, direct 
passage, where Christ is said to be composed of two minds infi- 
nitely different, yet constituting one person. We find none. Our 
opponents, indeed, tell us, that this doctrine is necessary to the 
harmony of the Scriptures, that some texts ascribe to Jesus Christ 
human, and others divine properties, and that to reconcile these, 
we must suppose two minds, to which these properties may be 
referred. In other words, for the purpose of reconciling certain 
difficult passages, which a just criticism can in a great degree, if 
not wholly explain, we must invent an hypothesis vastly more dif- 
ficult, and involving gross absurdity. We are to find our way out 
of a labyrinth by a clue, which conducts us into mazes infinitely 
more inextricable. 

Surely, if Jesus Christ felt that he consisted of two minds, and 
that this was a leading feature of his religion, his phraseology 
respecting himself would have been coloured by this peculiarity. 
The universal language of men is framed upon the idea, that one 
person is one mind, and one soul ; and when the multitude heard 
this language from the lips of Jesus, they must have taken it in 
its usual sense, and must have referred to a single soul, all which 



13 



he spoke, unless expressly instructed to interpret it differently. 
But where do we find this instruction ? Where do you meet, in 
the New Testament, the phraseology which abounds in Trinita- 
rian books, and which necessarily grew from the doctrine of two 
natures in Jesus. Where does this divine teacher say, This I 
speak as God, and this as man ; this is true only of my human 
mind, this only of my divine ? Where do we find in the epistles 
a trace of this strange phraseology? No where. It was not 
needed in that day. It was demanded by the errors of a later age. 

We believe, then, that Christ is one mind, one being, and I add, 
a being distinct from the one God. That Christ is not the one 
God, not the same being with the Father, is a necessary inference 
from our former head, in which we saw, that the doctrine of three 
persons in God is a fiction. But on so important a subject, I would 
add a few remarks. We wish, that our opponents would weigh 
one striking fact. Jesus, in his preaching, continually spoke of 
God. The word was always in his mouth. We ask, does he, by 
this word, ever mean himself ? We say, never. On the contrary 
he most plainly distinguishes between God and himself, and so do 
his disciples. How this is to be reconciled with the idea, that the 
manifestation of Christ, as God, was a primary object of Chris- 
tianity, our adversaries must determine. 

If we examine the passages in which Jesus is distinguished from 
God, we shall see, that they not only speak of him as another 
being, but seem to labour to express his inferiority. He is con- 
tinually spoken of as the Son of God, sent of God, receiving all 
his powers from God, working miracles because God was with 
him, judging justly because God taught him, having claims on our 
belief, because he was anointed and sealed by God, and as able of 
h imself to do nothing. The New Testament is filled with this 
language. Now we ask, what impression this language was fit- 
tee and intended to make ? Could any, who heard it, have imag- 
ined, that Jesus was the very God, to whom he was so industrious- 
ly declared to be inferior, the very being, by whom he was sent, 
and from whom he professed to have received his message and 
power? Let it here be remembered, that the human birth, and 
bodily form, and humble circumstances, and mortal sufferings of 
Jesus, must all have prepared men to interpret, in the most un- 
qualified manner, the language in which his inferiority to God was 
declared. Why then was this language used so continually, and 
without limitation, if Jesus were the Supreme Deity, and if this 
truth were an essential part of his religion? I repeat it, the hu- 
man condition and sufferings of Christ, tended strongly to exclude 
from men's minds the idea of his proper Godhead ; and of course, 
we should expect to find in the New Testament perpetual care 
and effort to counteract this tendency, to hold him forth as the 
same being with his Father, if this doctrine were, as is pretended 
the soul and centre of his religion. We should expect to fimi the 
phraseology of Scripture cast into the mould of this doctrine,to hear 
familiarly of God the Son, of our Lord God Jesus, and to be told 5 
that to us there is one God, even Jesus. But instead of this, the 



14 



inferiority of Christ pervades the New Testament. It i9 not only 
implied in the general phraseology, but repeatedly and decidedly 
expressed, and unaccompanied with any admonition to prevent its 
application to his whole nature. Could it then have been the 
great design of the sacred writers, to exhibit Jesus as the Supreme 
God? 

I am aware, that these remarks will be met by two or three 
texts, in which Christ is called God, and by a class of passages, 
not very numerous, in which divine properties are said to be as- 
cribed to him. To these we offer one plain answer. W e say, 
that it is one of the most established and obvious principles of 
criticism, that language is to be explained according to the known 
properties of the subject to which it is applied. Every man 
knows, that the same words convey very different ideas, when 
used in relation to different beings. Thus, Solomon built the tem- 
ple in a different manner from the architect, whom he employed ; 
and God repents differently from man. Now, we maintain, that 
the known properties and circumstances of Christ, his birth, suf- 
ferings, and death, his constant habit of speaking of God as a 
distinct being from himself, his praying to God, his ascribing to 
God all his power and offices, these acknowledged properties 
of Christ, we say, oblige us to interpret the comparatively few 
passages, which are thought to make him the supreme God, in a 
manner consistent with his distinct and inferior nature. It is our 
duty to explain such texts, by the rule which we apply to other 
texts,in which human beings are calledGods,and are said to be par- 
takers of the divine nature, to know and possess all things, and 
to be filled with all God's fulness. These latter passages we do 
not hesitate to modify, and restrain, and turn from the most obvi- 
ous sense, because this sense is opposed to the known properties 
of the beings to whom they relate ; and we maintain, that we 
adhere to the same principle, and use no greater latitude in ex- 
plaining, as w r e do, tne passages which are thought to support the 
Godhead of Christ. 

Trinitarians profess to derive some important advantages from 
their mode of Viewing Christ. It furnishes them, they tell us, 
with an infinite atonement, for it shows them an infinite being, 
suffering for their sins. The confidence with which this fallacy 
is repeated astonishes us. When pressed with the question, 
whether they really believe, that the infinite and unchangeable 
God suffered and died on the cross, they acknowledge that this is 
not true, bat that Christ's human mind alone sustained the pains of 
death. How have we then an infinite sufferer ? This language 
seems to us an imposition on common minds, and very derogatory 
to God's justice, as if this attribute Could be satisfied by a sophism 
and a fiction. 

We are also told, that Christ is a more interesting object, that 
his love and mercy are more fell, when he is received as the Su- 
preme God, who left his glory to take humanity and to suffer for 
men. That Trin tarians are strongly moved by this representa- 
tion, we do not mean to deny, but we think their emotions alto- 



15 



gether founded on a misapprehension of their own doctrines 
They talk of the second person of the Trinity leaving- his glory, 
and his Father's bosom, to visit and save the world. But this se- 
cond person, being the unchangeable and infinite God, was evident- 
ly incapable of parting with the least degree of his perfection and 
felicity. At the moment of his taking flesh, he was as intimately 
present with his Father as before, and equally with his Father fill- 
ed heaven, and earth, and immensity. This, Trinitarians ac- 
knowledge, and still they professs to be touched and overwhelm- 
ed by the amazing humiliation of this immutable being ! ! — But 
not only does their doctrine, when fully explained, reduce Christ's 
humiliaton to a fiction, it almost wholly destroys the impressions 
with which his cross ought to be received. According to their 
doctrine, Christ was, comparatively, no sufferer at all. It is true, 
his human mind suffered ; but this, they tell us, was an infinitely 
small part of Jesus, bearing no more proportion to his whole na- 
ture, than a single hair of our heads to the whole body ; or, than 
a drop to the ocean. The divine mind of Christ, that which was 
most properly himself, was infinitely happy, at the very moment 
of the suffering of his humanity. Whilst hanging on the cross, he 
was the happiest heing in the universe, as happy as the infi- 
nite Father ; so, that, his pains, compared with his felicity, were 
nothing. This, Trinitarians do, and must acknowledge. It fol- 
lows, necessarily, from the immutableness of the divine nature, 
which they ascribe to Christ ; so that their system, justly viewed, 
robs his death of interest, weakens our sympathy with his suffer- 
ings, and is, of all others, most unfavourable to a love of Christ, 
founded on a sense of his sacrifices for mankind. We esteem 
our own views to be vastly more affecting, especially those of us, 
who believe in Christ's pre-existence. It is our belief, that 
Christ's humiliation, was real and entire, that the whole Saviour, 
and not a part of him, suffered, that his crucifixion was a scene 
of deep and unmixed agony. As we stand round his cross, our 
minds are not distracted, or our sensibility weakened, by contem- 
plating him as composed of incongruous and infinitely differing 
minds, and as having a balance of infinite felicity. We recognise, 
in the dying Jesus, but one mind. This, we think, renders his suf- 
ferings, and his patience and love in bearing them, incomparably 
more impressive and affecting, than the system we oppose. 

Thirdly. Having thus given our belief on two great points, 
namely, that there is one God, and that Jesus Christ is a being 
distinct from, and inferior to God, I now proceed to another 
point on which we lay still greater stress^ We believe in the 
moral perfection of God. We consider no part of theology so 
important as that which treats of God's moral character ; and we 
value our views of Christianty chiefly, as they assert his amia- 
ble, and venerable attributes. 

It may be said, that in regard to this subject, all Christians 
agree, that all ascribe to the Supreme Being, infinite justice, 
goodness and holiness. We reply, that it is very possible to 
speak of God magnificently, and to think of him meanly ; to apply 



16 



to his person high-sounding epithets, and to his government, prin- 
ciples which make him odious. The heathens called Jupiter the 
greatest and the best ; but his history was black with cruelty and 
lust. We cannot judge of men's real ideas of God, by their gene- 
ral language, for in all ages, they have hoped to sooth the Deity 
by adulation. We must inquire into their particular views of his 
purposes, of the principles of his administration, and of his dispo- 
sition towards his creatures. 

We conceive that Christians have generally leaned towards a 
very injurious view of the Supreme Being. They have too of- 
ten felt, as if he were raised, by his greatness and sovereignty, 
above the princples of morality, above those eternal laws of 
equity and rectitude, to which all other beings are subjected. We 
believe, that in no being, is the sense of right so strong, so omnip- 
otent, as in God. We believe that his almighty power is entirely 
submitted to his perception of rectitude ; and this is the ground 
of our piety, it is not because he is our Creator merely, but be- 
cause he created us for good and holy purposes ; it is not because 
his will is irresistible, but because his will is the perfection of vir- 
tue, that we pay him allegiance. We cannot bow before a being, 
however great and powerful, who governs tyranically. We re- 
spect nothing, but excellence, whether on earth, or in heaven. 
We venerate not the loftiness of God's throne, but the equity and 
goodness in which it is established. 

We believe that God is infinitely good, kind, benevolent, in the 
prpper sense of these words; good in disposition, as well as in act ; 
good not to a few, but to ail ; good to every individual, as well as 
to the general system. 

We believe too, that God is just ; but we never forget, that his 
justice is the justice of a good being, dwelling in the same mind, 
and acting in harmony with perfect benevolence. By this attribute 
we understand God's infinite regard to virtue, or moral worth, 
expressed in a moral government ; that is, in giving excellent and 
equitable laws, and in conferring such rewards and inflicting such 
punishments, as are most fitted to secure their observance. God's 
justice has for its end the highest virtue of the creation, and it pun- 
ishes for this end alone, and thus it coincides with benevolence ; 
for virtue and happiness, though not the same, are inseparably 
conjoined. 

God's justice thus viewed, appears to us to be in perfect har- 
mony with his mercy, According to the prevalent system of 
theology, these attributes are so discordant and jarring, that to 
reconcile them is the hardest task, and the most wonderful 
achievement of infinite wisdom. To us they seem to be inti- 
mate friends, always at peace, breathing the same spirit, and 
seeking the same end. By God's mercy, we understand not a 
blind instinctive compassion, which forgives without reflection, 
and without regard to the interests of virtue. This, we acknowl- 
edge, would be mcomna tible with justice, and also with enlight- 
ened benevolence, God's mercy, as we understand it, desires 
strongly the happiness of the guilty, but only through their peni- 



17 



tehee. It has a regard to character as truly as his justice. It de- 
fers punishment, and suffers long-, that the sinner may return to his 
duty, but leaves the impenitent and unyielding, to the fearful re- 
tribution threatened in God's word. 

To give our views of God, in one word, we believe in his par- 
ental character. We ascribe to him, not only the name, but the 
dispositions and principles of a father. We believe that he has 
a father's concern for his creatures, a father's desire for their im- 
provement, a father's equity in proportioning his commands to 
their powers, a father's joy in their progress, a father's readiness 
to receive the penitent, and a father's justice for the incorrigible. 
We look upon this world as a place of education, in which he is 
training men by mercies and sufferings, by aids and temptations, 
by means and opportunities of various virtues, by trials of princi- 
ple, by the conflicts of reason and passion, by a discipline suited 
to free and moral beings, for union with himself, and for a sublime 
and ever growing virtue in heaven. 

Now we object to the systems of religion, which prevail 
among us, that they are adverse, in a greater or less degree, to 
these purifying, comforting, and honorable views of God, that 
they take from us our Father in heaven, and substitute for him a 
being, whom we cannot love if we would, and whom we ought 
not to love if we could. We object, particularly on this ground, 
to that system, which arrogates to itself the name of ortho- 
doxy, and which is now most industriously propagated through 
our country. This system teaches, that God brings us into exis- 
tence wholly depraved, so that under the innocent features of 
our childhood, is hidden a nature averse to all good, and propense 
to all evil; and it teaches thatGod regards us with displeasure before 
we have acquired power to understand our duties, or reflect upon 
our actions. Now if there be one plain principle of merality, it 
is this, that we are accountable beings, only because we have 
consciences, a power of knowing and performing our duty, and 
that in as far as we want this power, we are incapable of sin, 
guilt, or blame. We should call a parent a monster, who should 
judge and treat his children in opposition to this principle, and 
yet this enormons immorality is charged on oUr Father in heaven. 

This system, also, teaches, #that God selects from the corrupt 
mass of men a number to be saved, and that they are plucked, by 
an irresistible agency, from the common ruin, whilst the rest are 
commanded, under penalty of aggravated woe, to make a change 
in their characters, which their natural corruption places beyond 
their power, an*l are also promised pardon on conditions, which 
necessarily avail them nothing, unless they are favored with a 
special operation of God's grace, which he is predetermined to 
Withhold. This mockery of mercy, this insult offered to the 
misery of the non elect, by hollow proffers of forgiveness, com- 
pletes the dreadful system which is continually obtruded upon us 
as the gospel, and which strives to monopolize the reputation of 
sanctity, 

o ■ 



18 



That this religious system does not produce all the effects on 
character, which might be anticipated, we most joyfully admit. It 
is often T very often, counteracted by nature, concience, common 
sense, by the general strain of Scripture, by the mild example 
and precepts of Christ, and by the many positive declarations of 
God's universal kindness, and perfect equity. But still we think 
that we see occasionally its unhappy influence. It discourages 
the timid, gives excuses to the bad, feeds the vanity of the fanati- 
cal, and offers shelter to the bad feelings of the malignant. By 
shocking, as it does the fundamental principles of morality, and by 
exhibiting a severe and partial Deity, it tends strongly to pervert 
tbe moral faculty, to form a gloomy, forbidding, and servile reli- 
gion, and to lead men to substitute censoriousness, bitterness, and 
persecution, for a tender and impartial charity. We think too, 
that this system, which begins with degrading human nature, may 
be expected to end in pride ; for pride grows out of a conscious- 
ness of high distinctions, however obtained, and no distinction is so 
great as that, which is made between the elected and abandoned 
of God. 

The false and dishonorable views of God, which have now been 
stated, we feel ourselves bound to resist unceasingly. Other er- 
rors we can pass over with comparative indifference. But we 
ask our opponents to leave to us a God, worthy of our love and 
trust, in whom our moral sentiments may delight, in whom our 
weaknesses and sorrows may find refuge. We cling to 
the divine perfections. We meet them every where in cre- 
ation, we read them in the Scriptnres, we see a lovely image 
of them in Jesus Christ ; and gratitude, love and veneration call 
on us to assert them. Reproached, as we often are, by men, it is 
our consolation and happiness, that one of our chief offences is the 
zeal with # which we vindicate the dishonored goodness and recti- 
tude of God. 

Fourthly. Having thus spoken of the unity of God; of th« 
unity of Jesus, and his inferiority to God; andof the perfections of 
the divine character ; I now proceed to give our views of the 
mediation of Christ and of the purposes of his mission. With regard 
to the great object, which Jesus came to accomplish,- there seem! 
to be no possibility of mistake. W^e believe, that he was sent by 
the Father to effect a moral, or spiritual deliverance of mankind ; 
that is, to rescue men from sin and its consequences, and to bring 
them to a state of everlasting purity and happiness. We believe, 
too, that he accomplishes this sublime purpose by a variety* of 
methods ; by his instructions respecting God's rfinity, parental 
character, and moral government, which are admirably fitted to 
reclaim the world from idolatry, and impiety, to the knowlegde, 
love, and obedience of the Creator ; by his promises of pardon 
to the penitent, and of divine assistance to those, who labour for 
progress in moral excellence ; by the light which he has thrown 
on the path of duty ; by his own spotless example, in which the 
loveliness and sublimity of virtue shine forth to warm and quick- 
en, as well as guide us to perfection ; by his threatenings against 
incorrigible guilt ; by his glorious discoveries of immortality ; bj 



19 



his sufferings and death ; by that signal event, the resurrection, 
which powerfully bore witness to his divine mission, and brought 
down to men's senses a future life ; by his continual intercession, 
which obtains for us spiritual aid and blessings ; and by th<2 power 
with which he is invested of raising the dead, judging the world, 
and conferring the everlasting rewards, promised to the faithful. 

We have no desire to conceal the fact, that a difference of 
opinion exists among us, in regard to an interesting part of Christ's 
mediation ; 1 mean, in regard to the precise influence of his death, 
on our forgiveness. Some suppose, that this event contributes to 
our pardon, as it was a principal means of confirming his religion, 
and of giving it a power over the mind ; in other words, that 
it procures forgiveness by leading to that repentance and virtue, 
which is the great and only condition on which forgiveness is be- 
stowed. Many of us are dissatisfied with this explanation, and 
think that the Scriptures ascribe the remission of sins to Christ's 
death, with an emphasis so peculiar, that we ought to consider 
this event as having a special influence in removing punishment, 
as a condition or method of pardon, without which, repentance 
would not avail us, at least to that extent, which is now promised 
by the gospel. 

Whilst, however, we differ in explaining the connexion between 
Christ's death and human forgiveness, a connexion, which we all 
gratefully acknowledge, we agree in rejecting many sentiments, 
which prevail in regard to his mediation. The idea, which is con- 
veyed to common minds by the popular system, that Christ's death 
has an influence in making God placable or merciful, in quenching 
his wrath, in awakening his kindness towards men, we reject with 
horror. We believe, that Jesus, instead of making the Father 
merciful, is sent by the Father's mercy to be our Saviour ; that he 
is nothing to the human race, but what he is by God's appointment ; 
that he communicates nothing but what God empowers him to be- 
stow ; that our Father in heaven is originally, essentially and eter- 
nally placable, and disposed to forgive ; and that his unborrowed, 
underived, and unchangeable love, is the only fountain of what 
flows to us through his Son. We conceive, that Jesus is dishon- 
oured, not glorified, by ascribing to him an influence, which clouds 
the splendour of divine benevolence. 

We farther agree in rejecting, as unscriptural and absurd, the 
explanation given by the popular system, of the manner in which 
Christ's death procures forgiveness for men. This system teach- 
es, that man having sinned against an infinite being, is infinitely 
guilty, and some even say, that a single transgression, though com- 
mitted in our early and inconsiderate years, merits the eternal 
pains of hell. Thus, an infinite penalty is due from every human 
being; and God's justice insists, that it shall be borne either by 
the offender, or a substitute. Now, from the nature of the case, 
no substitute is adequate to the work of sustaining the full punish- 
ment of a guilty world, save the infinite God himself ; and accord- 
ingly, God took on him human nature, that he might pay to his 
own justice the debt of punishment incurred by men. and might 



20 



enable himself to exercise mercy. Such is the present system. 
Now, to us, this doctrine seems to carry on its front, strong marks of 
absurdity, and we maintain that Christianity ought not to be encum- 
bered with it, unless it be laid down in the New Testament fully 
and expressly. We ask our adversaries, then, to point to some plain 
passages where it is taught. We ask for one text, in which we are 
told that God took human nature, that he might appease his own 
anger towards men, or make an infinite satisfaction to his own jus- 
tice ; for one text, which tells us, that human guilt is infinite, and 
requires a correspondent substitute ; that Christ's sufferings owe 
their efficacy to their being borne by an infinite being ; or that his 
divine nature gives infinite value to the sufferings of the human. 
Not one word of this description can we find in the Scriptures ; not 
a text, which even hints at these strange doctrines. They are alto- 
gether, we believe, the fictions of theologians. Christianity is in 
no degree responsible for them. We are astonished at their pre- 
valence. What can be plainer, than that God cannot, in any sense, 
be a sufferer, or bear a penalty in the room of his creatures ? 
How dishonourable to him is the supposition, that his justice is now 
so severe as to exact infinite punishment for the sins of frail and 
feeble men, and now so easy and yielding as to accept the limited 
pains of Christ's human soul, as a full equivalent for the infinite and 
endless woes due from the world ? How plain is it also, according 
to this doctrine, that God, instead of being plenteous in forgive- 
ness, never forgives ; for it is absurd to speak of men as forgiven, 
when their whole punishment is borne by a substitute ? A scheme 
more fitted to bring Christianity into contempt, and less suited to 
give comfort to a guilty and troubled mind, could not, we think, 
be easily invented. 

We believe too, that this system is unfavourable to the charac- 
ter. It naturally leads men to think, that Christ came to change 
God's mind, rather than their own, that the highest object of his 
mission, was to aveit punishment, rather than to communicate ho- 
liness, and that a large part of religion consists in disparaging 
good works and human virtue, for the purpose of magnifying the 
value of Christ's vicarious sufferings. In this way, a sense of the 
infinite importance, and indispensable necessity of personal im- 
provement is weakened, and high sounding praises of Christ's 
cross, seem often to be substituted for obedience to his precepts. 
For ourselves, we have not so learned Jesus. Whilst we grate- 
fully acknowledge, that he came to rescue us from punishment, 
we believe, that he was sent on a still nobler errand, namely, to 
deliver us from sin itself, and to form us to a sublime and heaven* 
ly virtue. We regard him as a Saviour, chiefly as he is the light, 
physician, and guide of the dark, diseased, and wandering mind. 
No influence in the universe seems to us so glorious, as that over 
the character; and no redemption so worthy of thankfulness, as 
the restoration of the soul to purity. Without this, pardon, were 
it possible, would be of little value. Why pluck the sinner from 
hell, if a hell be left to burn in his own breast ? Why raise him to 
heaven, if he remain a stranger to its sanctity and love ? With 



21 



these impressions, we are accustomed to value the gospel, chiefly, 
as it abounds in effectual aids, motive?, excitements to a generous 
and divine virtue. In this virtue, as in a common centre, we see 
all its doctrines, precepts, promises meet, and we believe, that 
faith in this religion, is of no worth, and contributes nothing to sal- 
vation, any farther than as it uses these doctrines, precepts, prom- 
ises, and the whole life, character, sufferings, and triumphs of Je- 
sus, as the means of purifving the mind, of changing it into the 
likeness of his celestial excellence. 

Fifthly. Having thus stated our views of the highest object of 
Christ's mission, that it is the recovery of men to virtue, or holi- 
ness, I shall now, in the last place, give our views of the nature of 
Christian virtue, or true holiness. We believe that all virtue has 
its foundation in the moral nature of man, that is, in conscience, 
or his sense of duty, and in the power of forming his temper and 
life according to conscience. We believe that these moral facul- 
ties are the grounds of responsibility, and the highest distinctions 
of human nature, and that no act is praiseworthy, any farther 
than it springs from their exertion. We believe, that no dispen- 
sations infused into us without our own moral activity, are of the 
nature of virtue, and therefore, we reject the doctrine of irresisti- 
ble divine influence on the human mind, moulding it into goodness, 
as marble is hewn into a statue. Such goodness, if this word may 
be used, would not be the object of moral approbation, any more 
than' the instinctive affections of inferior animals, or the constitu- 
tional amiableness of human beings. 

By these remarks, we do not mean to deny the importance of 
God's aid or Spirit ; but by his Spirit, we mean a moral, illumina- 
ting, and persuasive influence, not physical, not compulsory, not 
involving a necessity of virtue. We object, strongly, to the idea 
of many Christians respecting man^ impotence and God^s irresis- 
tible agency on the heart, believing that they subvert our respon- 
sibility and the laws of our moral nature, that they make men ma- 
chines, that they cast on God the blame of all evil deeds, that they 
discourage good minds, and inflate the fanatical with wild conceits 
of immediate and sensible inspiration. 

Among the virtues, we give the first place to the love of God. 
We believe, that this principle is the true end and happiness of our 
being, that we were made for union with our Creator, that his in- 
finite perfection is the only sufficient object and true resting place 
for the insatiable desires and unlimited capacities of the human 
mind, and that without him, our noblest sentiments, admiration, 
veneration, hope and love, would wither and decay. We believe 
too, that the love of God is not only essential to happiness, but to 
the strength and perfection of all the virtues ; that conscience, 
without the sanction of God's authority and retributive justice^ 
would be a weak director; that benevolence, unless nourished by 
communion with his goodness, and encouraged by his smile, could 
not thrive amidst the selfishness and thanklessness of the world; 
and that self government, without a sense of the divine inspection, 
would hardly extend beyond an outward and partial purity. God, 



22 



as he is essentially goodness, holiness, justice, and virtue, so he is 
the life, motive, and sustainer of virtue in the human soul. 

But whilst we earnestly inculcate the love of God, we believe 
that great care is necessary to distinguish it from counterfeits. We 
think that much, which is called piety, is worthless. Many have 
fallen into the error, that there can be no excess in feelings, which 
have God for their object ; and, distrusting as coldness, that self- 
possession, without which virtue and devotion lose all their digni- 
ty? they have abandoned themselves to extravagancies, which have 
brought contempt on piety. Most certainly, if the love of God be 
that, which often bears its name, the less we have of it, the bet- 
ter. If religion be the shipwreck of understanding, we cannot 
keep too far from it. On this subject, we always speak plainly. 
"We cannot sacrifice our reason to the reputation of zeal. We 
owe it to truth and religion, to maintain, that fanaticism, p^tial in- 
sanity, sudden impressions, and ungovernable transports, are any 
thing, rather than piety. 

We conceive, that the true love of God, is a moral sentiment, 
founded on a clear perception, and consisting in a high esteem 
and veneration of his moral perfections. Thus, it perfectly coin- 
cides, and is in fact the same thing with the love of virtue, recti- 
tude, and goodness. You will easily judge, then, what we 
esteem the surest and only decisive signs of piety. We lay no 
stress on strong excitements. We esteem /iim, and htm only a pious 
man, who practically conforms to God's moral perfection and gov- 
ernment, who shows his delight in God's benevolence, by loving 
and serving his neighbour ; his delight in God's justice, by being 
resolutely upright; his sense of God's purity, by regulating his 
thoughts, imagination, and desires ; and whose conversation, busi- 
ness, and domestick life, are swayed by a regard to God's presence 
and authority. In all things else, men may deceive themselves. 
Disordered nerves may give them strange sights, and sounds, and 
impressions. Texts of Scripture may come to them as from 
heaven. Their whole souls may be moved, and their confidence 
in God's favour be undoubting. But in all this there is no religion. 
The question is, do they love God's commands, in which his char- 
acter is fully displayed, and give up to these their habits and pas- 
sions. Without this, ecstacy is a mockery. One surrender of 
desire to God's will, is worth a thousand transports. We do not 
judge of the bent of men's minds by their raptures, any more than 
we judge of the direction of a tree during a storm. We rather 
suspect loud profession, for we have observed, that deep feeling: 
is generally noiseless, and least seeks display. 

We would not, by these remarks, be understood as wishing to 
exclude from religion warmth, and even transport. We honour, 
and highly value true religious sensibility. We believe, that 
Christianity is intended to act powerfully on our whole nature, on 
the heart, as well as the understanding and the conscience. We 
conceive of heaven as a state, where the love of God will be ex- 
alted into an unbounded fervour and joy; and we desire, in our 
pilgrimage here, to drink into the spirit of that better world. But 



23 



we think, that religious warmth is only to be valued, when it 
springs naturally from an improved character, when it comes un- 
forced, when it is the recompense of obedience, when it is the 
warmth of a mind, which understands God by being like him, and 
when, instead of disordering, it exalts the understanding, invigo- 
rates conscience, gives a pleasure to common duties, and is seen to 
exist in connexion with cheerfulness, judiciousness, and a reason- 
able frame of mind. When we observe a fervour, called reli- 
gious, in men whose general character expresses little refine- 
ment and elevation, and whose piety seems at war with reason, 
we pay it little respect. We hononr religion too much to give 
its sacred name to a feverish, forced, fluctuating zeal, which has 
little power over the life. 

Another important branch of religion, we believe to be love to 
Christ. The greatness of the work of Jesus, the spirit with 
which he executed it, and the sufferings which he bore for our 
salvation, we feel to be strong claims on our gratitude and vene- 
ration. We see in nature no beauty to be compared with the 
loveliness of his character, nor do we find on earth a benefactor, 
to whom we owe an equal debt. We read his history with delight, 
and learn from it the perfection of our nature. We are particu- 
larly touched by his death, which was endured for our redemption, 
and by that strength of charity, which triumphed over his pains. 
His resurrection is the foundation ot our hope of immortality. 
His intercession gives us boldness to draw nigh to the throne of 
grace, and we look up to heaven with new desire, when we think, 
that if we follow him here, we shall there see his benignant coun- 
tenance, and enjoy his friendship for ever. 

I need not express to you our views on the subject of the benev- 
olent virtues. "We attach such importance to these, that we are 
sometimes reproached with exalting them above piety. We re- 
gard the spirit of love, charity, meekness, forgiveness, liberality, 
and beneficence, as the badge and distinction of Christians, as the 
brightest image we can bear of God, as the best proof of piety. 
On this subject, I need not, and cannot enlarge, but there is one 
branch of benevolence, which I ought not to pass over in silence, 
because we think that we conceive of it more highly and justly, 
than many of our brethren. I refer to the duty of candour, char- 
itable judgment, especially towards those who differ in religious 
opinion. We think, that in nothing have Christians so widely de- 
parted from their religion, as in this particular. We read with 
astonishment and horror, the history of the church, and sometimes 
when we look back on the fires of persecution, and the zeal of 
Christians, building up wails of separations, and in giving up one 
another to perdition, we feel as if we were reading the records 
of an infernal, rather than a heavenly kingdom. An enemy to 
every religion, if asked to describe a Christian, would, with some 
show of reason, depict him as an idolater of his own distinguishing 
opinions, covered with badges of party, shutting his eyes on the 
virtues, and his ears on the arguments of his opponents, arrogating 
all excellence to his own sect, and all saving power to hh own 



24 



creed, sheltering under the name of pious zeal, the love of domi- 
nation, the conceit of infallibility, and the spirit of intolerance, 
and trampling on men's rights under the pretence of saving their 
?o uls. 

We can hardly conceive of a plainer obligation on beings of our 
frail and fallible nature, who are instructed in the duty of candid 
judgment, than to abstain from condemning men of apparent con- 
scientiousness and sincerity, who are chargeable with no crime 
but that of differing from us in the interpretation of the Scriptures, 
and differing, too, on topicks of great and acknowledged obscurity. 
We are astonished at the hardihood of those, who, with Christ's 
warnings sounding in their ears, take on them the responsibility of 
making creeds for his church, and cast out professors of virtuous 
lives for imagined errors, for the guilt of thinking for themselves. 
We know that zeal for truth, is the cover for this usurpation of 
Christ's prerogative ; but we think that zeal for truth, as it is call- 
ed, is very suspicious, except in men, whose capacities and advan- 
tages, whose patient deliberations, and whose improvements in 
humility, mildness, and candour, give them a right to hope that 
their views are more just, than those of their neighbours. Much 
of what passes for a zeal for truth, we look upOn with little 
respect, for it often appears to thrive most luxuriantly where 
other virtues shoot up thinly and feebly ; and we have no grat- 
itude for those reformers, who would force upon us a doctrine, 
which has not sweetened their own tempers, or made them 
better men than their neighbours. 

We are accustomed to think much of the difficulties attending 
religious inquiries, springing from the slow developement of our 
minds, from the power of early impressions, from the state of so- 
ciety, from human authority, from the general neglect of the reas- 
oning powers, from the want of just principles of criticism, and 
of important helps in interpreting Scripture, and from various oth- 
er causes. We find, that on no subject have men, and even good 
men, engrafted so many strange conceits, wild theories, and fictions 
of fancy, as on religion, and remembering, as we do, that we our- 
selves are sharers of the common frailty, we dare not assume 
infallibility in the treatment of our fellow Christians, Or encour- 
age in common Christians, who have little time for investigation, 
the habit of denouncing and contemning other denominations, 
perhaps more enlightened and virtuous than their own. Charity, 
forbearance, a delight in the virtues of different sects, a back- 
wardness to censure and condemn, these are virtues, which, how- 
ever poorly practised by us, we admire and recommend, and we 
would rather join ourselves to the church in which they abound, 
than to any other communion, however ehted with the belief of 
its own orthodoxy, however strict in guarding its creed, however 
burning with zeal against imagined error. 

I have thus given the distinguishing views of those Christians 
in whose names 1 have spoken. We have embraced this system, 
not hastily or lightly, but after much deliberation, and we hold it 
fast, not merely because we believe it to be true, but because we 



25 



regard it as purifying truth, as a doctrine according to godliness^ 
as able to " work mightily" and " to bring forth fruit" in them 
who believe. That we wish to spread it we have no desire to 
conceal ; but we think, that we wish its diffusion, because we re«> 
gard it as more friendly to practical piety and pure morals, than 
the opposite doctrines, because it gives clearer and nobler 
views of duty, and stronger motives to its performance, because 
it recommends religion at once to the understanding and the 
heart, because it asserts the lovely and venerable attributes of 
God, because it tends to restore the benevolent spirit of Jesus 
to his divided and afflicted church, and because it cuts off ev- 
ery hope of God's favour, except that which springs from 
practical uniformity to the life and precepts of Christ. We 
see nothing in our views to give effence, save their purity, and 
it is their purity, which makes us seek and hope their exten- 
sion through the world. 

I now turn to the usual addresses of the day. 
My friend and brother ; — You are this day to take upon you 
important duties, to be clothed with an office, which the Son of 
God did not disdain ; to devote yourself to that religion, which 
the most hallowed lips have preached, and the most precious blood 
sealed. We trust that you will bring to this work a willing mind, 
a firm purpose, a martyr's spirit, a readiness to toil and suffer for 
the truth, a devotion of your best powers to the interests of piety 
and virtue. I have spoken of the doctrines, which you will proba- 
bly preach; but I do not mean, that you are to give yourself to 
controversy. You will remember, that good practice is the end 
of preaching, and will labor to make your people holy livers, rath- 
er, than skilful disputants. Be careful, lest the desire of defend- 
ing what you deem truth, and of repelling reproach and misre- 
presentation, turn you aside from your great business, which is to 
fix in men's minds a living conviction of the obligation, sublimity 
and happiness of Christian virtue. The best way to vindicate your 
sentiments, is to show in your preaching and life, their intimate 
connexion with Christian morals, with a high and delicate sense 
of duty, with candour towards your opposers, with inflexible in- 
tegrity, and with an habitual reverence for God. If any light can 
pierce and scatter the clouds of prejudice, it is that of a pure ex- 
ample. You are to preach a system which has nothing to recom- 
mend it, but its fitness to make men better ; which has no unin- 
telligible doctrine for the mystical, no extravagancies for the fa- 
natical, no dreams for the visionary, no contradictions for the 
credulous, which asks no sacrifice of men's understanding, but 
only of the passions and vices ; and the best and only way to re- 
commend such a system is, to show forth its power in purifying 
and exalting the character. My brother, may your life preach 
more loudly than your lips. Be to the people a pattern of all 
good works, and may yonr instructions derive authority from a 
well grounded belief in your hearers, that you speak from the 
heart, that you preach from experience, that the truth which you 
4 



26 



dispense has wrought powerfully in your own heart, that God, and 
Jesus, and heaven are not merely words on your lips, but most af- 
fecting realities to your mind, and springs of hope and consola- 
tion, and strength, in all your trials. Thus labouring, may you 
reap abundantly, and have a testimony of your faithfulness, not 
only in your own conscience, but in the esteem, love, virtues, and 
improvements of your people. 

Brethren of this church and society. — We rejoice with you in 
the prospects of this day. We rejoice in the zeal, unanimity and 
liberality, with which you have secured to yourselves the admin- 
istration of God's word and ordinances, according to your own 
understanding of the Scriptures. We thank God, that he has dis- 
posed you to form an association, on the true principles of Chris- 
tianity and of protestantism, that you have solemnly resolved to 
call no man master in religion, to take your faith from no human 
creed, to submit your consciences to no human authority, but to 
repair to the gospel, to read it with your own eyes, to exercise 
upon it your own understanding, to search it, as if not a sect ex- 
isted around you, and to follow it wherever it may lead you. 
Brethren, hold fast your Christian and protestant liberty. We 
wish you continued peace, and growing prosperity. We pray 
God, that your good works may glorify your Christian profession, 
that your candour, and serious attention may encourage our young 
brother in the arduous work to which you have called him, and 
that your union with him, beginning in hope, may continue in 
joy, and may issue in the friendship and union of heaven. 

To all who hear me, I would say, with the apostle ; u Prove all 
things, hold fast that which is good." Do not, brethren, shrink 
from the duty of searching God's word for yourselves through fear 
of human censure and denunciation. Do not think that you may 
innocently follow the opinions, which prevail around you, without 
investigation, on the ground, that Christianity is now so purified 
from errors, as to need no laborious research. There is much rea- 
son to believe, that Christianity is at this moment dishonoured by 
gross and cherished corruptions. If you remember the darkness, 
which hung over the gospel for ages ; if you consider the impure 
union,which still subsists in almost every Christian country between 
the church, and the state, and which enlists men's selfishness, and 
ambition, on the side of established error ; if^you recollect in 
what degree the spirit of intolerance has checked free inquiry, 
not only before, but after the reformation ; you will see that 
Christianity cannot have freed itself from all the human inven- 
tions which disfigured it under the papal tyranny. No. Much 
stubble is yet to be burnt ; much rubbish to be removed ; many 
gaudy decorations, which a false taste has hung around Christian- 
ity, must be swept away ; and the earth-born fogs which have 
long shrouded it, must be scattered, before this divine fabric will 
rise before us in its native, and awful majesty, in its harmonious 



27 



proportions, in its mild and celestial splendours. This glorious 
reformation in the church, we hope, under God's blessing, from 
the demolition of human authority in matters of religion, from 
the fall of those hierchies, huge establishments, general convoca- 
tions or assemblies, and other human institutions, by which the 
minds of individuals are oppressed under the weight of numbers, 
and a papal dominion is perpetuated in the protestant church. 
Our earnest prayer to God is, that he will overturn, and overturn, 
and overturn the strong holds of spiritual usurpation, until he shall 
come, whose right it is to rule the minds of men ; that the con- 
spiracy of ages against the liberty of Christians may be brought 
to an end; that the servile assent, so long yielded to human 
creeds, may give place to honest and fearless inquiry into the 
Scriptures ; and that Christianity, thus purified from error, may 
put forth its almighty energy, and prove itself, by its ennobling 
influence on the mind, to be indeed, " the power of God unto sal- 
vation." 



NOTE. 



THE author intended to add some notes to this discourse, but they would 
necessarily be more extended than the occasion would justify, He wished to 
offer some remarks on the word Mystery, but can only refer his readers to the 
disertation on that subject, in the inestimable work of Dr. Campbell on the 
Gospels. He was prevented, by the limits of the discourse from enlarging on 
that very interesting topick, the great end of our Saviour's mission ; and he 
would refer those, who wish to obtain definite views on this point, to an admi- 
rable treatise on the design of Christianity, by Bishop Fowler, which may be 
found in Bishop Watson's tracts. Had I time, I should be happy to notice 
the principal texts adduced in the Trinitarian controversy, particularly those 
which are either interpolations, or false or doubtful readings, or false or doubt- 
ful translations, such as 1 John v. 7- Acts xx. 28. 1 Tim. iii. 16. Philip, ii. 
6, &c. These last texts should be dismissed from the controversy, and they 
cannot be needed, if the doctrine, which they are adduced to support, be a 
fundamental truth of Christianity. A fundamental truth cannot, certainly, 
want the aid of four or five doubtful passages ; and Trinitarians betray the 
weakness of their cause, in the eagerness with which they struggle for those I 
have named. But I cannot enlarge. The candour of the reader will excuse 
jnany omissions in a sermon, which is necessarily too limited to do more, than 
give the most prominent views of a subject. 



THE CHARGE, 

BY ELIPHALET PORTER, D. D. 



OF R0XBURY, MASS. 



My Dear Brother; — Conscious, as I trust you are, of the 
purity of your motives in entering into the Christian ministry, and 
of the sincerity of your desires to fulfil the duties of the sacred 
office, and the important station into which you have now been 
publickly and solemnly inducted; you will receive, I doubt not, 
with all readiness and seriousness of mind, the charge, which, in 
conformity with ancient usage, and the duty assigned me, I am 
now to pronounce. This charge will be solemn, impressive, and 
worthy of your regard, in proportion as it shall be immediately 
drawn from the lively oracles of God. 

Permit me, therefore, to charge thee, before God, and the 
Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the quick and the dead at his 
appearing ; Take heed to thyself, to the flock over which divine 
providence hath made thee an overseer, and to the ministry, which 
thou hast received of the Lord, to fulfil it. 

Our gracious master, you will recollect, spake a parable to this 
end, that men ought always to pray. This duty is, in a peculiar 
manner, incumbent on those who minister in holy things. Habit- 
ual prayer will have an important influence on your character and 
ministry. It will fortify you against the power of temptation, ele- 
vate your views, and sanctify your affections ; cherish good prin- 
ciples, desires and purposes ; strengthen and animate you in the 
discharge of duty ; and have a powerful tendency to draw down 
the choicest blessings on yourself, and on the people of your 
charge. To you it will belong to lead in the devotions of the 
sanctuary, and of various occasions of a more private, though not 
less interesting nature. Let this part of your ministerial duty 
engage a due portion of your attention and meditation, that it may 
ever be performed in a manner appropriate, impressive, edifying 
and availing. 

Preach the word ; preach the truth as it is in Jesus, holding 
fast the form of sound words, as contained in the holy Scriptures, 
and calling no man on earth master. Be instant in season and out 
of season ; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doc- 
trine. Keep back nothing, which may be profitable to your hear- 
ers. But let not an indiscreet, though honest zeal, to declare the 
whole counsel of God, betray you into the error of striving about 
words to no profit, or of seeming to be wise above what is written. 



30 



Still less suffer yourself, through a mere affectation of superior 
fidelity, to indulge in uncharitable denunciations, and in announ- 
cing opinions with an air of confidence exceeding your inward 
conviction of their truth. Imitate that teacher, who came from 
God, and in whose mouth guile was never found. In his example 
you will see a wonderful prudence, united with perfect integrity ; 
and occasional reserve, with unequalled faithfulness to him whose 
messages he was sent to declare. Study to shew thyself appro- 
ved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly 
dividing the word of truth. 

Give thyself to reading, meditation, and doctrine. Intermeddle 
with all divine and useful knowledge ; not forgetting however, 
that much study is a weariness to the flesh, and that there is an 
application too intense to be long endured, without endangering 
health, and life, and usefulness. 

Administer the ordinances of baptism, and the Lord's Supper, to 
such subjects, and in such a manner, as shall be best adapted to 
rescue, and preserve those institutions from superstitious abuse, 
and profane contempt, and have a tendency to render them exten- 
sive, and effectual means of exciting and binding men to a relig- 
ious life ; of promoting their growth in grace, and in the know- 
ledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; and of securing the 
perseverance of the saints. 

Maintain Christian order and discipline, and behave thyself im- 
partially and wisely in the house of God. If any man, through 
inadvertence and surprise, be overtaken with a fault, restore such 
an one, in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou al- 
so be tempted. Them who sin habitually, and openly, rebuke be- 
fore all, that others also may fear. A man that is an heretic, one 
that is aspiring and contentious, causing divisions and offences, af- 
ter a first, and second admonition, reject, in order that peace and 
unity may be maintained. 

When called, in providence, to separate others to the work of 
the gospel ministry, you will not forget the apostolic injunction, 
lay hands suddenly on no man ; but will have satisfactory evidence 
of the religious character, blameless life, theological attainment, 
and aptness to teach, of those whom you shall ordain elders in the 
churches. 

Remember, that as a minister of Jesus Christ, you are set for 
the defence of the gospel ; and are required to contend earnestly 
for the faith once delivered to the saints, in opposition to those 
who deny the only Lord God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, his mes- 
senger of light, and love to the world. 

Know the state of thy flock, and give to every one his portion 
in due season. Visit the sick, console the afflicted, support the 
weak, be patient toward all men. Surrounded by Christians, 
whose religious opinions, and modes of ecclesiastical government, 
may not entirely accord with your own, you will cherish towards 
them sentiments of affection and respect, and treat them as breth- 



31 



ren. Should any feel, and conduct towards you m a different man 
ner, you will still remember, that the servant of the Lord must 
not strive, but be gentle unto all, patient, in meekness instructing 
those that oppose themselves,if God, peradventure, will give them 
repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth. 

Let no man despise thee, or have just occasion to speak of thee 
with reproach, that the ministry be not blamed, and the truth hin- 
dered. But by propriety, and dignity of deportment, and useful- 
ness of life, commend yourself to the esteem, and consciences of 
all in the sight of God. Be an example of believers in word, in 
conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. In all things 
show thyself a pattern of good works. A city that is set on an 
hill cannot be hid. Situated as you are, the application and use 
of this saying of our Lord will be readily perceived. 

Stir up the gifts that are in thee, and let thy profiting appear 
unto all. Observe with due attention the burning and shining 
lights, which may be placed in the golden candlestick around 
you. This may afford useful excitement to trim your own lamp, 
and thus cause it to burn with a purer and brighter flame. 

Having been allowed of God to be put in trust with this minis- 
try, so speak, so live, so fulfil its various duties, not as pleasing 
men, but God who trieth the heart. 

To make men wise, and good, and happy, is the great end of 
your sacred vocation. Keep this end constantly in sight. Let 
all inferior, and comparatively unworthy aims and motives, which 
are so apt to insinuate and wind themselves into the human heart, 
be eaten up by a holy zeal for doing good, as the deceptive magic 
serpents of Egypt were once swallowed up by the holy rod of 
Aaron. 

Be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the 
Lord, forasmuch as you know your labour is not in vain in the 
Lord. And now unto him who is able, not only to keep you from 
falling, but to make you eminently useful in his service, and to 
present you faultless before the presence of his glory with ex- 
ceeding joy ; to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and 
majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever, Amen, 



ADDRESS 



TO THE SOCIETY, 

BY NATHANIEL THAYER, D. £>. 

OF LANCASTER, MASS. 

Christian Friends ; — From the monitory lessons of my elder 
brother, you will be led to appreciate the labours and responsi- 
bility of your minister. In view of his situation, and the event- 
ful consequences of this day, " his soul would be cast down, and 
disquieted within him,''' had he not the pledge you have given of 
respect, confidence, and affection, and the animating promise of 
the great head of the church. 

The union, which has been consummated, is a source of obli- 
gation to a people. Attending circumstances give it, in your 
case, a vast solemnity and weight. 

In executing the appointment of this ecclesiastical council, you 
will permit me, with plainness of speech, and a solicitude for the 
welfare of my brother and yourselves, to " stir up your mind by 
way of remembrance." 

Ye need not, that I address you on the importance of saving 
your minister " from entangling himself with the affairs of this 
life." " Be not weary in well doing ;" for the good things, which 
you shall minister to the convenience and comfort of this servant 
of the Lord, you may expect to reap an hundred fold in the spir- 
itual things, which he will be enabled to dispense. He will have 
no worldly perplexity to prevent his giving himself wholly to the 
ministty. He may intermeddle with all wisdom. He may "seek 
for the truth as for silver, and search for it as for hid treasures." 
You have the promise, that in thus doing, '* he shall find the 
knowledge of God." When you deal kindly with the teacher of 
religion, you may be animated by the belief, that you are acting 
in obedience to a solemn ordinance of your master. " Even so 
hath the Lord ordained, that they who preach the gospel should 
live of the gospel." 

To the accomplishment of your raised hope of his usefulness, 
who is "set over you in the Lord," cherish towards him a dispo- 
sition to candour. In individuals in the Christian community, 
there appears, and it is no new thing under the sun, a propensity 
to judge hardly of ministers. It gave rise to that reproof of the 
great founder of the religion which they preach. " We have 
piped unto you, and ye have not danced ; we have mourned unto 



33 



you, and ye have not lamented." We are not to consider this 
propensity the fruit of a godly jealousy. In its operation it pro- 
vokes the captious, and such as are disinclined to a charitable judg- 
ment, to many railing accusations. Exemplary and faithful min^ 
isters are accused of being worldly minded, proud, seekers of pop- 
ularity, friendly to the rich, negligent of the poor, wanting in 
compassion to the sick and afflicted, deficient in charity or jratL 
From your advantages for refinement, and a candid interpretanoii 
of motives and actions, we hope better things. Let your fellow 
Christians behold you as a society, each member of which consid- 
ers himself appointed by providence, as the depository of the 
character of his minister, and resolved to guard it with the vigi- 
lance of true friendship. We do not urge you to have a mantle 
of charity broad enough to cover defects, which shall bring dis- 
grace upon the ministry, or 44 give occasion to the adversary to 
speak reproachfully." But we do represent it to you as a sol- 
emn duty, to repress a capricious, uncandid, censorious spirit. Be 
always ready with an apology for the omissions and errors, which 
can fairly be ascribed to human frailty, or to circumstances and 
causes beyond human control. Be particularly cautious in your re- 
marks on the indiscretions and faults of your minister, in presence 
of your children. You will be in danger of producing an impres- 
sion, which will grow into a strong prejudice, lessen his usefulness? 
and obstruct their edification. 

Be reasonable in your expectation of pastoral visits. A reli- 
gious society should never forget, that 44 the strength of their 
minister is not the strength of stones, neither is his flesh brass. 15 
If solicited to mingle in the pleasures or dissipations of life, at 
the expense of what he believes to be professional duty, the re- 
ply should be received as magnanimous, and coming from a just 
sense of obligation to his master, if he says, 44 1 am doing a great 
work, so that I cannot come down ; why should the work cease, 
while I leave it, and come down to you V 9 Since inspiration has 
ceased, the man, who brings an intellectual and spiritual repast 
into the temple, must have time to prepare it. If the sick and 
afflicted receive due attention, and a reasonable anxiety appears 
for the temporal and spiritual welfare of his people, it will be 
only a suitable expression of their confidence, to leave with their 
minister the appropriation of seasons for ordinary and social in- 
tercourse. 

You will not be unmindful of a great purpose of an established 
ministry, and which has professedly influenced you in the erection 
of this temple, and in the preparatory measures for this solem- 
nity. It is that you may enjoy the stated administration of the 
word and ordinances. You will be singularly privileged, if there 
are none of your number, who, by reason oCa corrupt education, 
licentious examples, a confirmed habit of negligence, an addict- 
edness to dissipation, distorted views of religion, or a general 
unconcern about their souls aad eternity, have contracted a dis- 

/5 



34 



relish for Christian institutions. " Exhort them daily while it is 
called to-day." In the exercise of a Christian spirit, give them 
rational and interesting representations of the gospel and its ordi- 
nances. You may hope to correct their moral taste. Address 
their love of order, their patriotism, their desire for present and 
future happiness. A divine blessing attending your labours, you 
m^r convert these sinners from the error of their ways, and save 
their souls from death. You will fill them with joy and gladness, 
when it is said unto them, let us go into the house of God. You 
may excite in them " the preparation of heart," which shall 
make them welcome guests at the table of the Lord. You will 
be " helpers of your minister in Christ Jesus." 

Ministers are commanded to u preach the word." Were there 
no positive precept for an enforcement of the duty, we might in- 
fer the indispensable obligation of all Christians to be hearers of 
it. A people cannot more surely abate the ardour, destroy the 
courage, and check the. improvement, of a conscientious teacher 
of piety, than to u forsake the assembling of themselves together, 
as the manner of some is." Let parents, and men of wealth and 
elevated rank, give the aid of their influence and example for the 
encouragement and support of publick worship, 

When you approach this temple, come not to indulge a critical 
and fastidious taste ; to least upon strains of eloquence ; to hear 
this or the other theory of Christians denounced, or those who 
embrace or preach them stigmatized as bigots and subverters of 
Christian truth. The admonition to beware of such denunciation 
is too pointed and solemn to be slighted, by the enlightened and 
humble servants of the Redeemer; i; why dost thou judge thy 
brother, or why dost thou set at naught thy brother ? for we must 
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." 

Come not with the expectation of hearing in every sermon a 
body of divinity. Your minister is called to address a mixed as- 
sembly, formed of the learned and unlearned ; the rich and poor; 
the afflicted and prosperous; the unholy and the good; adults 
and youth. Believe that he is faithful to him, who hath placed 
him in the viney ard, if he shall ^ give to each his portion in due 
reason." 

Come not with a disposition to indulge an unprofitable curiosity, 
by listening to abstruse speculations upon subjects, which u minis- 
ter to strife rather than to godly edifying." Bear upon your 
mind, when you come hither, the solemn counsel of the son of 
Sirach. " Seek not out the things that are too hard for thee, 
neither search the things that are above thy strength. But what 
is commanded thee, think thereupon with reverence; for it is 
not needful for thee to see with thine eyes the things that are in 
secret. Be not curious in unnecessary matters, for more things 
are shewed unto thee than men understand, for many are deceiv- 
ed by their own vain opinion, and an evil suspicion hath over- 
thrown their judgment." If the discourses you shall hear be plain 



35 



and practical, and there be no attempt of their author to reach 
the unfathomable depths of the divine counsels, consider him as 
justified in this course by the inspired lesson ; " Secret things be- 
long unto the Lord our God ; but the things which are revealed 
belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all 
the words of this law." 

Rest not your faith on any minister of Christ. You are to take 
the Son of God only for your master and Lord. By his gospel you 
are to test the truth or errors of men, who profess to address 
you in his name. May you be added to the catalogue of Chris- 
tians, who " search the Scriptures daily, whether the things 
which they hear are so." 

Pray for your minister. He needs your sympathy, your friend- 
ship, your counsel, but especially your prayers. Pray that he 
may have grace to execute his purpose of this day, that " he will 
know nothing amongst you save Jesus Christ and him crucified." 
May he " save himself and those who hear him." 

We assure you of our joy and our thanksgiving' to the author 
of all good influences, when we heard of " your order, and the 
steadfastness of your faith in Christ." We recognise you as a 
branch of the Christian church. We applaud you for your open- 
ness to declare your belief in " one God, and in one mediator be- 
tween God and men, the man Christ Jesus." While you are hos- 
tile to a spirit of proselytism, while you resolve and encourage 
your fellow Christians to "call no man master upon the earth," 
your duty does not wholly consist in this. You are to prove 
yourselves the true disciples of Jesus, by " contending earnestly 
for the faith, which was once delivered to the saints. 1 ' Use all 
means consistent with " charity out of a pure heart, and a good 
conscience, and faith unfeigned" to understand, defend, and diffuse 
important truth. Bring your understanding with you to the inter- 
pretation of Christian truths. Let your " zeal be according to 
knowledge." Act under the conviction, that " it is good to be zeal- 
ously affected always in a good thing." Justify the confidence 
which we, and the churches we represent, have reposed in you, 
by remaining "steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the 
work of the Lord." 

Now, Christian Friends, our hearts' desire and earnest prayer 
for you and your minister is, that you may long 44 know how 
good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in 
unity that this church may be 44 built upon the foundation of 
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief 
corner stone ; that you may realize, that u a preached gospel is 
the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ;" 
that 44 whether we come and see you, or being absent shall hear 
of your affairs, we may hear that you stand fast in the faith, 
striving together for the furtherance of the gospel;" and that 
hereafter you may join 44 the redeemed of the Lord, who shall 
come to Zion with songs, and with everlasting joy." 



NOTE BY THE PUBLISHERS. 

Having been favoured with a copy of«the first Baltimore edition of the forego- 
ing performances, and thinking that they reflect great honour on the reverend 
gentlemen, who delivered them, and on our country ; deeming them admira- 
bly calculated to promote the cause of rational and scriptural Christianity ; 
and not doubting that they w ill be read, in this vicinity, with avidity, delight 
and edification; we immediately put them to press. The above being our 
motives, we sincerely hope that this measure will meet the approbation of the 
reverend authors, as well as an enlightened and judicious publick- 

HEWS AND GOSS, 



t 



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